Lantern.



PATENTED JULY 11, 1905. W S. HAMM.

LANTERN.

APPLIUATION FILED 001'. 1,1904.

UNTTED STATES Patented July 11, 1905.

PATENT @EEicE;

LANTERN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,297, dated July 11,1905.

Application filed October 1,1904, Serial No. 226,806.

To (til whom it may concern:

Be it know n that I, VVILLIAM S. I-IAMM, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Lakeside, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Lanterns, of which thefollowing is a specification and which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to and is adapted for use in connection moreparticularly with that class of lanterns used by trainmen; and itspurpose is to provide for the use of a lantern for signaling purposeswithout inclining its body as it is raised or swung to and fro.

Trainmens lanterns have not been successfully adapted for the use ofkerosene or any illuminant giving a strong flame, for the reason thatwhen the body of the lamp is inclined, as it must be in the giving ofsignals, the flame is directed to and impinges against the walls of theglobe and deposits carbon thereon, resulting in the clouding of theglobe to such an extent at times as to practically obscure the light,and thus giving rise to serious risk of accidents due to failure toobserve signals. Indeed, this difficulty is present to some extent inconnection with any illuminant capable of giving a sufficicntly-strongflame to adaptit to this kind of service. A further disadvantage arisingfrom the inclining of the body of the lantern is that the draft ischecked and the flame immediately and increasingly dimmed as the signalis given and prolonged. These difficulties are obviated by thisinvention, which consists in giving the bail of the lantern such formthat it will not readily turn in the hand as thelantern is raised, andhence there will be a flexure of the joints, so as to permit the body ofthe lantern to retain its upright position at all times.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is an elevation of a trainmans lantern, the bail being shown inperspective. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a planview of the lantern, showing a modification of the bail.

The body of the lantern is shown at 10, having the bail-lugs 11 11. Thebail 12 in the preferred form of construction is of wire,

and its two arms are twisted together just above the dome 13 of thelantern, as shown at 14:, forming a loop 15 above this twist, which isset in a plane perpendicular to that of the portion of the bail belowthe point 14. The loop 15 is preferably made large enough to allow theuser to thrust his arm through it in order that thelantern may besuspended from the shoulder and carried against the breast, leaving thehand free, as it is the practice of train conductors to carry thelanterns when collecting fares.

The loop 15 forms, in effect, a cross-bar for the bail, and as thelantern is swung outwardly from the body of the user this crossbar willnot turn in the hand, and hence there will be a fiexure at thebail-lugs, and the body of the lamp will remain in a vertical position.

The bail may, if desired, be provided with a rigid cross-bar ofsuificient size to be firmly grasped, as shown at 16 in Fig. 3. In thisinstance the bail is shown as made of a single piece of wire coiledmidway between its ends to form a handpiece transverse to the plane ofthe bail. Such handpiece or grip member constitutes a cross-bar in thesame sense as the loop 15, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,) and it mightobviously be employed in connection with either of the forms of bailshown. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the body of the bail will constitutethe arm-receiving loop.

I claim as my invention 1. In combination,a lantern, and a rigid bailhinged thereto and having a grip member transverse to the plane of itsbody portion.

2. In combination, a lantern, and a bail hinged thereto and having itsupper portion formed into a loop disposed transverse to its bodyportion.

3. In combination, a lantern, and a bail hinged thereto and having arigid transverse grip member intermediate of its ends.

4. In combination, a lantern, a rigid bail pivoted to the lantern andhaving a grip member disposed transversely to the line of the pivot.

WILLIAM S. HAMM. Witnesses:

LoUIs K. GILLsON, CHARLES B. GILLsoN.

